1. Technical Field
This invention relates to drum grinding wheels, and more particularly to drum grinding wheels having cutters that are mechanically fastened to a reusable drum.
2. Background Information
Drum grinding wheels are commonly used for diverse grinding operations ranging, for example, from grinding automobile brake blocks or pads and shoes or grinding other composite materials, to centerless grinding operations. Drum grinding wheels suitable for these applications have typically been manufactured by machining ribs into a right cylinder, welding or mechanically attaching end caps onto the cylinder, applying braze and diamond abrasive to the ribs, and then firing the entire assembly in a vacuum furnace.
These wheels eventually wear due to use, at which time they are either discarded, or re-furbished. As these grinding wheels tend to be relatively large, e.g., on the order of 25 cm×25 cm or larger, their disposal may be costly and cumbersome, even in the event portions thereof are recycled.
Re-furbishing, on the other hand, typically involves stripping the braze and any remaining abrasive from the ribs, recoating the ribs with new braze and abrasive, and then re-firing the wheel. While this re-furbishing dramatically extends the useful life of the wheel, the process tends to be cumbersome, as the user must generally ship the entire wheel back to the wheel manufacturer or to third party refurbishers. Refurbishing is also relatively time consuming, particularly when one considers the time required for round-trip ground shipping. Accordingly, users must generally keep replacement wheels on hand to mitigate costly downtime associated with wheel replacement. Storage of replacement wheels, however, disadvantageously tends to increase inventory costs.
Moreover, the effective diameter of the grinding wheel cannot easily be changed, which often requires users to stock wheels of various diameters in order to accommodate various grinding needs. Disadvantageously, this tends to further increase inventory costs.
A need therefore exists for an improved drum grinding wheel that addresses the aforementioned drawbacks.